To ask for tips reducing food plastic?

[AstroKate]

Firstly, I know there's a thread already going for a few weeks on plastics as a whole. I am trying to cut down our single use plastics but it's like peeling back layers of an onion-every time I think I've reduced it in some way, I uncover another area I hadn't considered

So I'm trying to focus on one area at a time. I've been conscious recently of the amount of plastic in the fridge. If there are leftover veg, I'll often cling film over the bowl, if we open some ham etc, it'll go in a zip lock plastic bag.

As these are food contaminated, I tend to throw them away after use (but I do reuse where I can if not raw food etc).

This is something I'd like to reduce or ideally stop altogether but have limited space for Tupperware both in the cupboards and fridge. My friend suggested beeswax paper but I found it wasn't airtight and the food often spoiled

Can I ask for tips to reduce this or some environmental quality packaging I can reuse and am not aware of?

I don't mind spending a bit more than I am or spending something up front to save in the long term

Any tips gratefully received

I bought these bags to take to the supermarket - they are great for loose fruit and veg. Have had a few people come up to me and ask where I got them from.

www.lakeland.co.uk/73241/Carrinet-Veggio-Reusable-Fruit-and-Veg-Bags-Pack-of-5

For sandwiches I use paperbags from a company called 'If You Care'

@BlueberriesAndCream I haven't used them in the microwave before, sorry :(

Bread: it’s taken some practice but I bake all my own loaves and have cut down on other bready things like pittas. I got a second hand bread machine and have played with the recipes until I produced something the kids will eat. I store it in a plastic bag that something else came in. I’m trying to bake more rather then buying pre-packaged biscuits etc, though we don’t use lots of throes anyway.

The biggest hurdles for me are soft fruit, pasta / rice and dairy produce.

@blueberriesandcream the Charles Viancin ones just rest on top so they let the steam out.

oh I see, thanks. They might not be the same ones that I saw advertised, then, which seemed to be stretchy ones that expanded to fit any size bowl, but weren't that big to start with.

@blueberriesandcream no they'll be different. These are them:

www.charlesviancin.com/us/

They look rather cool too!

Biggest difference Ive made to household waste was getting a compost bin (you can get them reduced from the council). I’m not a gardener and essentially its just an extra bin for food, cardboard and paper but its already made a decent amount of compost, my ‘big’ kitchen bin is recycling and this week Ive gotten rid of a bread bad full of soft plastic / general waste and that’s it. I’m trying to use other plastic bags instead of black ones, bread bags, toilet roll etc and compress the plastic.

Asda do a collection of Tupperware boxes that all fit into one another which are fab for the fridge (about 20 different sized ones in a pack)

I eat quite a lot of yogurt but when I realised just how much plastic I was using and how much it was costing me when buying individual tubs I swapped to buying kilo tubs ( £1/1.50 from tesco ) and a bag of frozen summer fruit ( 1.50 for a bag that last me at least 3 weeks ) . Yes there is still plastic involved but much less and the yogurt tubs can be reused for freezing batch cooked stuff.

I have found bees wax cloth great for cheese but have not tried it on anything else yet .

www.splosh.com/
I have been using Splosh for a while now , I like some of the stuff but they are a bit expensive , the liquid for the washing machine is far to expensive for me , I always have used powder ( cardboard box)

Fakename what soap bars do you use for washing the pots ?

I keep glass jars and use them to put leftovers or the remains of tins (sweet corn, beans etc) in so we then have less food waste as everyone can see what is already open and needs using up. I’m going to try and start using the local greengrocer at the market in our town every week (I’m just rubbish at remembering to do so).

Sick of the polythene bags the dry cleaners routinely dole out. They know to remove mine.

Oh and we have a compost bin - all garden waste goes in there (so saves us £30/year as we have to pay to have green waste collected), plus fruit and veg waste, cardboard and guinea pig waste all go in there. Planning on some veg beds so that’ll all help as well :)

I should of added that I use the glass jars that dips ( for pringles and kettle chips ) they make a perfect portion size for me when I am greedy hungry.
The frozen berries keep the yogurt cool for hours .

We have stainless steel tins (google tiffin tin or stainless steel sandwich tins) for leftovers. We get loose veg from local market or grow our own. Note Sainsbury’s does mushrooms in paper bags and has promised to go plastic free for veg at least I think. I mAke my own granola (that sounds so lentil weavy!) but all the ingredients come in plastic so hoping for refill-your-own place to open near us. You can get oats in paper bag from Lidl though.

Note I think the cardboard boxes washing powder comes in are plastic lined making them not recyclable.

I went to Tesco yesterday and noticed that their loose fruit/veg section was minimal. There was a lot more loose products available 5 years ago compared to now which is sad. It's really hard trying to minimise plastic waste in my area as I don't live near independent grocers or refill shops.

thezerowaster.com/zero-waste-near-you/

I reuse more of the "single-use" packaging which does sneak into the house. Some of it, such as bread bags and crisp packets, doesn't even need a wash before first reuse because it isn't yucky.

I really like sparkling water - anyone got a plastic free solution for that?

re: sparkling water. What about a soda stream?

Ziplock bags can be washed and re-used multiple times. I have a rule of never throwing a single use ziplock bag away until it has split or ripped. Wash them, hang them over an upside-down cup to dry.

Just don't buy clingfilm. If you don't buy it, you won't use it. Use an upside-down plate, tupperware container or beeswax wrap instead.

I drink a lot of sparkling water and got a soda stream. They quite often have offers on the basic one, I paid £20. The canister lasts me about 2 months with daily use, I change it at the Range.

Bread is the annoying one and I don't have enough time to bake a couple of times a week and our local bakery is only open when I'm at work.

If you buy the bread from the bakery section of eg Lidl, it is loose/unpackaged and you can put it in your own "produce bag" rather than one of the paper/plastic bags provided. (With or without slicing it in the scary slicing machine).

The loose loaves there are usually nice ones without the soya flour and additives all of the commercial bread loaves have.

Same with Tesco etc bakery loaves but unfortunately they're already in paper/plastic bags.

Probably totally unnecessary to say but by produce bags I mean anything you're happy to out loose food in, id just use a cotton shopping bag.

I really like sparkling water - anyone got a plastic free solution for that?

San Pellegrino do glass as well as plastic bottles in some places.

Or you could get a sofa stream and reuse glass bottles or get your own eg kilner bottles.

*soda!

I went to Tesco yesterday and noticed that their loose fruit/veg section was minimal. There was a lot more loose products available 5 years ago compared to now which is sad. It's really hard trying to minimise plastic waste in my area as I don't live near independent grocers or refill shops

It's so difficult to get loose produce now in any of the big supermarkets. I thought the government was supposed to be leading an initiative on reducing s u plastics; why are the supermarkets doing so little?

Could it be because you buy more when you're forced to buy pre packaged packs?